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Arne Slot has lavished praise on the returning Alisson Becker as he fumed about his side's performance in a narrow Champions League win over Girona. Alisson started for the first time since early October at the Estadi Montilivi and kept a clean sheet. The Brazilian was forced into five saves by the La Liga side and stood up to his task well. Liverpool boss Slot has maintained that Alisson has remained the club's No.1 despite the impressive performances of Caoimhin Kelleher during his absence. Now, the Dutchman simply wants his first choice to stay fit. Liverpool have carefully managed Alisson's return with the 32-year-old returning to training last month but only now being chosen to start in goal. Slot's first choice has been made firmly clear. The Dutchman said: "I said as a joke the players wanted to see how fit he really was to give him so much work. He showed again today why I said so many times he is our first goalkeeper, nothing to do with Caoimh [Kelleher] he did so well. “Alisson has been so important for so many years and showed why he is in my opinion one of the best or the best in the world . And let's hope he can keep continuing to bring these performances. Let's hope even more that he can stay fit." Slot was disappointed that Darwin Nunez was unable to land himself on the scoresheet. The Reds striker has scored just three goals in 19 appearances this term and Liverpool's coach admitted he kept his forward on the pitch in the hopes of turning his fortunes around. "What I can agree on is that he missed a few chances," said Slot. "Then it's always the question: does this have anything to do with low confidence or is this a situation where he's in at the moment? "I think every striker all around the world has periods where every ball goes in, and sometimes he has a period where you try so hard but you're not able to score. The good thing is that we have many players that can score for us – today Mo again. "I would have loved to see Darwin score because I think every striker wants to score [and] needs goals – that's why I kept him in for quite a long time. He was a threat but unfortunately he couldn't score. "Yes, Alisson made a lot of saves, but I think if you make highlights of this game we will all see a few chances that we had as well, which is normal. What is not normal is that we concede so many chances." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Sky has slashed the price of its Sky Sports, Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £240 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.None
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World reaction to end of Assad rule in SyriaPhotography helps Navy vet see the light
On Sunday morning, a lightning offensive by Syrian rebels ended with the dramatic fall of Damascus, marking the collapse of Bashar al-Assad 's regime after 13 years of devastating civil war. One of the most consequential moments in the Middle East's recent history was set in motion by a chain of events that few could have anticipated, least of all Hamas and Israel, whose war inadvertently played a pivotal role. Now comes the tough part, where the Middle East either gets better, or even worse. The fall of Assad is a stark reminder of how unintended consequences shape history. Israel and the West were long ambivalent about Assad's fate. He is a butcher who used chemical weapons against his own people and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, yet his control over Syria offered predictability, even tacit stability, in a volatile region. And critically, the coalition arrayed against him seemed dominated by Islamists – and, let's face it, the West has hated political Islam ever since the mullahs of Iran engineered the US hostage crisis 45 years ago. This is, at the end of the day, Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations." It's real. In the unintended consequences bucket, Assad's ability to cling to power for so long relied heavily on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia that until recently was one of the most powerful non-state armies in the world. But Hezbollah was thrashed by Israel in the recent fighting in Lebanon—and it is probably not a coincidence that the decisive rebel offensive came immediately thereafter. The unravelling can be traced back to the catastrophic Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas on Israel, in which the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group massacred 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 back into Gaza. That triggered an unprecedented Israeli response that ended up decimating the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance." In Gaza, Israel systematically dismantled Hamas' leadership (while causing horrific damage to Gaza's civilian population). In Lebanon, Hezbollah decided to pile on, launching over a year of rocket attacks the day after the Hamas invasion, and it too has suffered devastating losses. And in Syria, Israeli strikes on Iranian assets further weakened the position of Assad, who had turned his country into a superhighway of Iranian arms delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon. These strikes targeted weapons depots, Iranian bases, and key logistical routes, severely degrading Tehran's ability to support its proxies. The cumulative effect of these actions left the Axis of Resistance fragmented, demoralized, and weakened. Moreover, Iran, the architect of this regional alliance, has been grievously exposed, and Israeli air strikes have weakened its air defences. Its proxies are fractured, and its credibility as a regional powerbroker is in tatters. The toppling of Assad also weakens Russian influence in the Middle East, as Moscow was a key supporter of his regime. For Israel, all this is a double-edged sword. The dismantling of the Axis of Resistance represents a strategic victory, but the risks are significant. Rebel forces now controlling Syria are dominated by groups with ties to extremist ideologies, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group with al-Qaeda roots. This raises the specter of Syria becoming a failed state—or worse, a terrorist stronghold. Moreover, Assad's fall may invite new powers into Syria's vacuum. Turkey, Russia, and others could assert influence, potentially destabilizing the region further. For Israel, the stakes are high. The chaos could spill into neighboring Lebanon and Iraq, and no amount of military might can fully insulate Israel from the ripple effects of a fractured Syria. Amid this madness, we should remember something ironic. Originially, the opposition to Assad was liberal rebels who wanted a democratic Syria—the Free Syrian Army. What ultimately sealed Assad's fate was his calculated decision in 2011 to release Islamist prisoners from his jails. His hope was to discredit the opposition by making it unpalatable to the West; he figured he could ride the tiger. That tiger has now devoured him. Global fear and loathing of Islamism is preventing a genuine wave of celebration over the demise of a butcher. Many governments right now are wondering about the intentions of Hayat Tahrin al-Sham, despite the fact they have distanced themselves from al-Qaeda in recent years. That's why Israel has attacked Syrian chemical weapons depots—fearing they may fall into Islamist hands—and seized a strategic section of the Hermon mountaintop. The United States is headed into an isolationist frame of mind. President-elect Donald Trump has argued that this is "not our fight." Think again: Few things today are more important than preventing Syria from becoming a terrorist haven for global jihad. The fall of Assad's regime is a monumental moment, not just for Syria but for the entire Middle East. It underscores the impermanence of even the most entrenched autocracies. Assad's Baathist dictatorship, seemingly unassailable for decades, has crumbled. Many in the region are asking: could the Islamic theocracy in Iran, reviled by its people and a cancer upon the world, be next? Dan Perry is the former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe/Africa editor of the Associated Press, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and the author of two books. Follow him at danperry.substack.com . The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.